1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to motor vehicle lights and more particularly to a flexible support for supporting at least one light emitting diode.
So-called conventional printed circuits have an insulating support consisting of a resin plate that has a certain flexibility, in the sense that it can be curved or arched by exerting a force on each side of the circuit. However, the deformation of the resin plate is limited to one or even two inflection points and the curvature cannot be too pronounced. In addition, these plates are resilient and it is difficult to keep them in a deformed configuration.
The field of the invention is, in general terms, that of motor vehicle headlights. In this field, various types of headlight are known, among which there are essentially:                side lights, with low intensity and range;        passing or low beams, with higher intensity and a range on the road of around 70 meters;        long-range high beams, and supplementary lights of the long-range type, whose area of vision on the road is around 200 meters;        improved headlights, referred to as dual function, which combine the functions of low beams and high beams by incorporating a movable shade;        fog lights;        signalling lights;        signalling devices for daytime use, referred to a DRL lights (standing for daytime running lights in English) etc.        
For all these lights, traditionally, light sources of the halogen lamp or discharge lamp type are used. However, for a few years now, automotive equipment manufacturers have proposed the use of light emitting diodes; this use initially concerned essentially indicator lights or rear lights, but an increase in the power available in LEDs now makes it possible to envisage new uses of these light sources, in particular for performing the light functions present at the front of the vehicle, and more precisely the DRL and side light functions. Light emitting diodes allowing the performance of this type of function are designated as power LEDs. A power LED is more generally an LED making it possible, alone or in association with other LEDs, to perform lighting functions other than signalling functions and the function associated with signalling devices disposed at the rear of the vehicle. A power LED generally has a light flux of around at least 30 lumens.
Light emitting diodes have a certain number of advantages:                first of all, for a long time, it has been known that this type of diode does not radiate directionally but radiates in a half-space opposite to a substrate that supports the p-n junction of the diode in question; thus, by using a more directional radiation than the halogen or discharge lamps of the prior art, the quantity of energy lost is less than with discharge or halogen lamps;        next, these diodes have recently been improved in terms of radiation power intensity. In addition, the diodes manufactured have long been emitting radiation in the red range, but now also in the white range, which increases the field of their uses that can be envisaged. With regard to the LEDs used in signalling, the quantity of heat that they give off is relatively limited, and a certain number of constraints, relating to the dissipation of the heat in the headlight devices of the prior art, disappear; the problem of heat dissipation does however remain significant for power LEDs;        finally, diodes consume less energy, even at an equal intensity of radiation, than discharge lamps or halogen lamps; they are compact, and their particular shape offers novel possibilities for producing and arranging complex surfaces that are associated with them, in particular by disposing them on electronic supports of the flexible electronic support type.        
More and more, in particular to meet aesthetic criteria required by motor manufacturers, it is sought to dispose three-dimensionally, within the same headlight device, several light emitting diodes: within a given lighting device, various LEDs, possibly different types, are disposed on different support planes; in other words, a three-dimensional optical piece can now be intended to receive and hold a plurality of light sources in different planes.
The existing solutions for such juxtapositions initially consisted, in the case of LEDs, essentially of using rigid electronic supports, known to persons skilled in the art, of the CEM1, FR4, SMI or MCPCB substrate type or the like for supporting the various light sources. The use of rigid electronic supports has in particular a high manufacturing cost and drawbacks in terms of interconnection of the different substrates.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, a particular solution has recently been proposed for effecting a placing of light emitting diodes in a three-dimensional environment. Thus the patent FR 2881274 describes a flexible electronic support equipped with LEDs allowing a simplified assembling on a reflector comprising several LED support planes. Radiator elements are assembled on a first face of the flexboard. The LEDs are fixed to a second face of the flexboard, each LED being positioned so that a radiator element is associated with it directly on each side of the flexboard. Each radiator element comprises openings intended to receive a fixing pin pointing at a rear face of the reflector. This makes it possible to assemble the equipped flexboard and the reflector in a simple and precise manner by introducing one of the fixing pins of the reflector into each opening.
However, the current use of power LEDs makes it necessary to further improve the discharge of heat at the LEDs.
What is needed, therefore, is a system, flexible support and method that overcomes one or more of the problems of the prior art.